With Phase-III of COVID-19 vaccination in progress, private hospitals have exhausted their supply and would need to purchase vaccines now to continue administering.
As per the directions of the Government of India (GoI), private hospitals needed to purchase vaccines directly from the manufacturers and offer vaccination to the general public from May 2.
However, many private hospitals in Kashmir were continuing to assist the government-run vaccination drive and administering vaccines from the government supply for elderly population.
An administrator of a private hospital in Srinagar said that given the shortage of vaccines, the government had now stopped the supply of vaccines to sites located in private hospitals.
He said the hospitals would now start the process of procurement from the suppliers, which seemed unclear presently.
“There are a lot of confusions at the moment and it will take a few days before we are able to offer vaccination again,” he said.
Vaccination is currently in progress for elderly population and for the 18-44 years age group.
However, due to shortage in supply, the pace of vaccination has slowed down considerably in Kashmir.